While she got a replacement ring, she never lost hope that one day she would find it.

With the help of a public works employee, Stanton was reunited with her ring nine years later.

When something is flushed down the toilet, it's typically lost forever. But one New Jersey resident never gave up hope that her diamond ring would return after she accidentally flushed it down the toilet. Nine years later, her hope paid off.

"I was cleaning and knew I must have flushed it down," she told the Press of Atlantic City. "I felt so bad about it. Sad and embarrassed."

When she told her husband, Michael, that she lost the ring, he bought her a replacement that looked just like the one that slipped from her finger. Her husband jokingly told her to "hold onto this one" at the time.

Although she had a replacement, she never lost hope that she would be reunited with the original. Two years ago, she even contacted the public works department to see if Crew Chief Ted Gogol ever saw her ring while working, according to ABC13. Unfortunately, he hadn't.

"She had this look on her face while she was telling me about it that said, 'I can't believe I did this,'" Gogol told the Press of Atlantic City. "I told her really nicely that the chances of us finding it ... well, just in passing, we'd keep an eye out for it."

Everything changed this November when Paula and Michael returned to New Jersey from a Thanksgiving trip and found a note from the public works department on the door. The note told the Stantons to contact the department because Gogol spotted something in the mud and debris just 400 feet from their house.

"I realized it was a ring, and I remembered the woman who was looking for a ring," he said.

Paula was able to confirm it was her ring by the initials engraved on the inside.

"Everyone was in a state of shock. I was hugging him and crying," she said. "I was calling my kids and telling people about it. My family had a difficult year, and for this to happen ..."

After boiling the ring in peroxide and lemon juice, she now wears it alongside her replacement one.

Reunited with her ring, Paula and Michael will celebrate their 38th anniversary on December 27.